It was a tight race in Kaithal, Haryana where Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala lost by 1246 votes to BJP’s Leela Ram Gujjar. It was a see-saw battle till the last with both candidates taking slender leads as the counting progressed.

Leela Ram Gujjar is a former INLD member and recently joined the BJP. Surjewala was seeking re-election from Kaithal constituency. The Congress leader had lost the Jind bypolls, which were held earlier this year.

A close confidant of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party's national spokesperson, Randeep Surjewala was seeking a fifth term as a lawmaker.

The News18-IPSOS exit poll results indicated that the senior Congress leader is up for a close fight from his assembly seat.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was predicted by most exit polls to retain power in Haryana with a brute majority, is locked in a close contest with the main opposition, the Congress party, as per early trends on Thursday. The counting of votes which began at 8 am.

The BJP is leading in 40 seats, while the Congress is ahead in 31 constituencies.

The Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which fought its maiden assembly polls, was ahead in 10 seats and could emerge as the kingmaker in case of a hung assembly.

In the 2014 Assembly polls, the BJP improved its 2009 tally of four to 47 (33.2 percent vote share), followed by the INLD with 19 (24.11 percent) legislators and the Congress coming third with 15 (20.58 percent) seats against 40 in 2009 (35 percent).

For the latest election trends and results from the counting of votes in Haryana, follow our live blog.

First Published:Oct 24, 2019 9:43 AM IST